The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ordered firms to amend or remove 8,582 misleading financial promotions during 2022, a new report has shown.

The watchdog said it published more than 1,800 alerts to help consumers avoid losing money to scams.

The news follows recent calls by the FCA to enact stronger rules around misleading marketing.

Significant improvements have been made to the digital tools the FCA uses to find problem firms and misleading adverts, it said, with the improvements having enabled the regulator to work through a much larger number of cases compared with 2021.

The FCA has also been “working closely” with several BigTech companies to change their advertising policies to only allow financial promotions that have been approved by FCA-authorised firms. But the organisation said more needs to be done by tech companies to protect consumers.

“Our expectations remain the same,” said Sarah Pritchard, executive director, markets at the FCA. “Financial promotions must be fair, clear and not misleading.”

She added: “'This year, we will continue to put the pressure on people using social media to illegally promote investments, which put people’s hard-earned money at risk.”

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